Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Chapter 24. CSS Techniques

The previous chapters introduced the CSS tools available in web designers’ tool-belts: the properties and values provided in the CSS specification. This chapter puts them together in a few of the most popular design and layout techniques used in CSS-driven web design, including:

• Centering a fixed-width page

• Multicolumn layouts

• Boxes with rounded corners

• Replacing text with background images

• CSS rollovers

• List-based navigation

As in so many web-related tasks, there are seemingly endless variations on accomplishing the same goal. Each example in this chapter represents just one solution (you may know of better approaches). The intent is to demonstrate basic style sheet strategy and to provide “starter kits” for achieving basic visual and layout effects with CSS. There is usually much more to be said about each technique, so references to additional resources are provided when available. The "CSS Techniques Resources" section at the end of the chapter lists recommended reading for those interested in learning more about what can be done with CSS-driven design.